Wild Rose
by Demon Kairos
Summary: Elli is a 16 year old girl from a troubled family who has just moved to Tulsa. After a particularly brutal family fight, Elli runs away, and right into Sodapop Curtis. The Curtis' take her in. What will happen? I suck at summaries... PLEASE R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Hey, Demon Kairos here bringing you "Wild Rose" this fic is pretty much my life story with the Outsiders in it and I was encouraged to write it by my bestest ever friend, Rosa. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the angsty intro to the world of Elli McDermott (not my real name…but close).

Disclaimer: Outsiders characters are not mine, they belong to SE Hinton. However, Elli does belong to me.

* * *

Elli shoved open her bedroom window and climbed out of it onto the roof, clutching the backpack that held the few clothes and $50 she had managed to grab while her parents had been beating eachother to death. Tears and blood streaming down her pale, elven-like face she carefully walked to the edge of the roof and made her way towards the drainpipe, not really caring if she fell and died, _It's gotta be better than this_, she thought forlornly. As she reached the pipe and began climbing down it carefully, her cheek brushed the cold metal and pain flooded into her bloody and bruised face she remembered how her dads fist had pummelled her, not caring whether she lived or died, _Who would, with a daughter like me,_ she thought bitterly, letting go of the pipe and dropping the few feet to the ground.

She gathered her bag, which had dropped from her arm and landed a few feet away and hurried off down the unfamiliar streets of Tulsa. She had only recently moved here from Adelaide, all the way across the world in South Australia, the home she yearned for, but no, she was here, Tulsa, Okalahoma. Her parents had decided that a change of scenery would be just the thing to revive their love for each other, _Fat lot of good that did, they thought the same thing when we moved from Dublin, but they still hated eachother in Adelaide and they'll still hate eachother here! _, her angry thoughts ran through her pounding head and it occurred to her she had no where to go. She had no friends in Tulsa; she hadn't even started school here yet. With this grim thought she trudged on through the deserted streets, moving from one pool of harsh light from the streetlights to the next, wondering where the hell she would end up.

* * *

Sodapop hurried through the streets to get home, he knew he shouldn't have stopped in the park, he was so tired that day he was BOUND to fall asleep, _Why don't I ever listen to me? Stupid me…Darry'll be worried sick! He'll kill me…and Ponyboy, jeez he'll reckon the Socs got me! Fuck. _And with that he quickened his pace a little more. He continued on his way home for about five minutes before he heard a sound. Soda stopped and looked around, there was no one. But the sound continued, a choked sobbing, interrupted by harsh, shallow breathing, like the person was running and trying to breathe at the same time. He looked around, but there was nothing and no one there…then he saw her. A young girl of about 15 was walking behind him, her head down, raven locks hanging limply around her face, which was hard to see in the dim light. She was short, struggling to get to 5 ft, probably around 4"8'-ish and she wore worn jeans and a faded blue "Millencolin" T-shirt with numerous bracelets and wrist cuffs, and on her feet were chunky black docs. This girl was no Soc, and she looked like she needed help…bad. Soda's mind was having a battle with itself, _Dude, you gotta get home, Darry and Pony will be thinking something real bad has happened to yah! Yeah, but what does it matter if you help her? She needs it and you're already late, what does it matter if you're a few more minutes late._ His conscience won out.

Soda turned and walked up to her. "Excuse me-", he started and she looked up, startled. A horrid sight met his eyes, the girl's delicate and beautiful face was bruised, battered and bleeding. She looked like some Socs had got into her bad. "SHIT! Are you ok?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine…" she muttered, in a strange sounding voice, turning away.

"What happened to you, girl?" Soda breathed, still in shock at the state of her.

"Nothing…just…a run in with, um, some…uh…"

"Don't lie. You're bad at it" Soda said gently with a soft grin.

The girl looked torn, half like she wanted to say what had happened, half like she wanted to run away from this strange guy. She bit into her swollen, bleeding lip gingerly as she contemplated what to do. Slowly and quietly she whispered in a soft lilting voice "Da decided I was too much trouble and thought he'd get rid of me…Ma too."

Soda was shocked. He had seen the damage angry parents could do, hell look at Johnny, but this…this was brutal. Her dad (well that's what he supposed "Da" was) had really tried to kill her. "Do you have anywhere to go?" he asked softly. The girl shook her head and tears welled up in her big, beautiful eyes that were the colour of the ocean. "Right, well you'll have to come with me then." he said resolutely. For some reason he felt a strong need to protect and help this girl.

He took her arm and began to lead her towards his home. "What's your name?" he heard the girl whisper, barely loud enough for Soda to hear.

"Sodapop, and yours?" he replied softly.

"Elli, Elli McDermott."

* * *

Soon they were standing outside a shabby old house in a rough part of the neighbourhood. Two people stood on the front porch, one a burly, dark haired man in his early 20s, the other a young teenage boy with strawberry blond-ish hair and a worried expression on his small face.

"SODA! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN YOU LITTLE BASTARD, WE'VE BEEN WORRIED AS ALL HELL!" thundered the man.

"HEY! Darry, cool it. I fell asleep on a bench in the park, then I found Elli. I KNOW I should have come straight home after work, but if I had, she would be wandering through Tulsa all on her own!"

With this the man seemed to calm down and both he and the younger boy noticed Elli for the first time, so absorbed they had been in making sure their brother was ok. As Soda explained the night's events to his brothers, Elli stood there feeling awkward and intrusive. She didn't feel as though she belonged here, and they had no reason to help her. But as Soda finished talking the expression on Darry's face had gone from one of anger and worry to sympathy and caring. He nodded and Soda turned to Elli smiling, earning a small smile of gratitude in return from the bedraggled girl.

As the younger boy, who Soda said was called Ponyboy, made the couch suitable as a bed for her, Elli looked around the room she was in and marvelled. Here was a family much worse off financially than hers, but they loved and cared for eachother and treated eachother like they mattered…something that had never happened to her in all her 16 years. "Thankyou" she said softly to all of them with a small smile as they bade her a goodnight.

"Hey, don't sweat it. We all know what it's like to need help." smiled Ponyboy, "Hope you're face don't hurt to much tomorrow."

* * *

Well there's the first chapter of "Wild Rose" by your friendly dictator Demon Kairos. Please review and let me know what you think of my life story with the Outsiders added to it XD 


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, Demon Kairos here. Feeling real bored and I SHOULD be doing a uni assignment but Prof. Fuches (no, not f-you-cks, fucks. That's seriously how you say it XD) can go screw the nearest wall…he pisses me off so bad!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Outsiders characters, but I wish I did.

* * *

Elli awoke in the early hours of the morning to the sound of voices. A light was coming from the kitchen and voices sounded from the bright room. Elli stood up and quietly crept over to the door, keeping out of sight of the kitchens inhabitants. She sat down beside the doorway and listened. _Oh my god, I'm a fucking four year old listening in on peoples conversations from behind a god damn door…I'm so lame_, she thought to herself, but listened intently to the conversation happening metres away anyway. 

"Can we keep her? Please? She's nice!" came a voice Elli vaguely recognised as Ponyboys.

"You make her sound like a lil' lost puppy dog!" a drawl that was unfamiliar replied.

"Pony has a point though, she's very sweet and it's not like it'll hurt us to keep her" Soda said.

"Has Soda got a new girlfriend?" another unfamiliar voice piped up.

"No, he hasn't" came the disgruntled reply.

"Ok, ok, quit it. If we let her stay, where are we getting money for extra food and stuff, we struggle as it is and there's school and a bed that we need to think about, she can't sleep on the couch forever." Darry's clear assertive voice sounded over the playful teasing.

"What if she don't wanna stay?" yet another unfamiliar voice said, this one quiet and nervous-sounding.

"Should we ask her now?"

"And wake her up when she went through so much yesterday? Naw, she needs sleep."

Elli heard footsteps coming towards her and out of the open door came a guy with long rusty-coloured sideburns and a faded Mickey Mouse T-shirt. He started when he saw her and exclaimed "No she don't, the little eavesdropper!" laughing as everyone else came out the kitchen door. Elli saw three people besides the Mickey Mouse guy that she didn't recognise. One looked dangerous, with pale, silvery blond hair that curled in wisps around his neck and onto his forehead, framing his pointed, pale, elven face, which, apart from the scowl, was much like her own. (A/N: so many commas in that sentence…..) Another was tall and had dark brown hair that was combed back in these weird little swirly-things that looked complicated and had an amused expression on his face. The third was a boy about Pony's age with huge brown eyes; long black hair swept to the side that fell on his tanned face. _And they're talking about ME like puppy dog, hmph! That guy looks more like a puppy that me,_ she thought indignantly.

"What are you doin' Elli?" Soda asked, his brown eyes dancing with amusement.

"Umm…would you believe me if I said I went to get a drink but fell asleep before I got to the kitchen and woke up when that guy-", she jerked a thumb at the Mickey Mouse guy, "-woke me up?"

Six pairs of disbelieving eyes stared back at her. "Okay…maybe not…" she tried to grin in an innocent sort of way, but winced when the bruised muscles in her face complained violently.

"It's ok, we were talking about you anyway, you had a right to hear it." Soda admitted, his eyes still dancing. "So…we wanted to ask you…you wanna stay with us?"

Although Elli had heard them talking about it, she was still shocked when they asked. She was on the verge of saying "No, I couldn't…I'm not your responsibility" when she thought, _Wait a minute, if I leave where am I going?

* * *

_

"You wouldn't mind?" the bruised little girl almost whispered.

"Are you kidding? Soda's practically beggin' yah to stay, sweet cheeks!" Two-bit cried out gleefully and Soda kicked him hard. As Two-bit hopped around in pain, cursing Soda, Soda looked at Elli trying to read her face.

"I don't wanna be any trouble…but I would kinda like to stay…" she mumbled, looking down at her feet. Soda heard Pony's squeak of joy at her words and watched the girl smile gently. "So we've got two puppies in this gang", she pointed to Johnny then to herself, "A mouse and a Mickey Mouse", she said pointing to Pony and Two-bit, "What other animals are in the gang?"

"Shouldn't I be a pony…?" Pony enquired, puzzled.

"Nah, you sound too much like a mouse to be a pony."

"Yeah, besides Soda's the one that likes horses, he's the pony!"

"I ain't no pony, I'm a proper grown stallion thank you very much!"

"Yeah sure you are." Elli said on the spur of the moment, making everyone except Soda fall over laughing.

"She's known you less than a day and she already knows everything about you, better be careful!" Steve gasped between bursts of laughter.

"So…what are all your names?" Elli said looking up at the gang members she didn't know.

"Oh, uh…Steve, Dallas, we call him Dally, Two-bit and Johnny" Soda went around pointing them out. Then looking down at Elli he noticed she was giggling, "What's so funny?" he asked puzzled.

"Your accent!" she said through a fit of giggles, "Stave, Daaaaally, Two-baat, Jaaahnnee" she imitated him, giggling all the while. Encouraging the others to begin laughing at Soda again, even Dally had a smirk on his face.

"Where's your accent from anyway?" asked Two-bit, "It ain't from anywhere close to here."

"Irish, with 5 years of Australian influence on top of it."

_So, she's Irish_, thought Soda, _that must be where the lilty-ness in her voice comes from…_ Soda bent down to help her up from the floor where she'd been sitting through the entire conversation, not that it made much difference. _She's REAL short, damn; she only comes up to my chest… _Two-bit had seemed to pick up on this too, "She's a pygmy!" he shouted, "How old are y'all? Like 9?"

Elli scowled at him and looked incredibly put off. In a disgruntled and irritable voice she told them all she was sixteen and they looked at her disbelievingly. No way was that girl 16. At last Dally spoke up, "You're obviously lying, you can't be older than like…10…"

"I thought she was about 15 when I saw her" Soda said defensively.

Elli nodded at him in an appreciative way and turned to Dally. She tried to give him a look of annoyance, which didn't really translate past the swollenness of her face, so he just stared back at her, apparently wondering what she was doing. Eventually she just scowled and let out a sigh of exasperation and lifted her hands to her chest, grabbing her boobs "Show me a 10 year old that has DD boobs, and I may just believe you," she said haughtily, then stalked off.

Dally stood there shocked. No one talked to him like that. No one. Not even the gang got that smart with him. Strangely, he wasn't angry or annoyed, but impressed. She was real little but she had guts. Two-bit and Steve, meanwhile, where on the floor laughing at Elli and Dally. Dally gave Two-bit a sharp kick in the gut and walked out of the house, though it was still before sunrise, and went off in search of something nice, fun and incredibly illegal to do.

* * *

Elli walked through the small house in search of the bathroom_. I can't believe they asked me to stay_, she though bewildered, _I thought this was a 'stay the night and get the hell out of here deal', obviously the Curtis' are nicer than I thought. _She stared into the mirror, surveying the damage her father had dealt her. She cringed at what she saw, her normally pale, delicate face, was purple and blue, with tinges of yellow and green, swollen and small cuts dotted her face. 

"Painful?" she heard a soft, caring voice at the doorway. That guy, Johnny, stood there, looking at her with sympathy. A closer inspection of his own face revealed to her that they were in the same boat, they got the shit beat out of them at home…but by the look of the long scar on the side of Johnny's face, he got the shit beat out of him by someone with a knife.

"Yeah, a bit," she tried to grin, but it came out as a grimace, "but bruises fade anyway, hey?"

"Yeah, after a while." he smiled. "Your dad hits you too, huh?"

"Yeah…how'd you know it was him?"

"He didn't do anything that could kill yah, but just hurt like hell. Only parents and people that really wanna hurt yah do that."

"You seem to know a lot about getting beat." Johnny blushed and looked away.

"Yeah…I guess so…you do too…I 'spose that's why I can talk to you. I don't really talk usually…just listen" Elli smiled understandingly. She did that a lot too. What was the point of talking? When she did people just stared at her like she was from a different planet, then whispered to their friends "What did the walking encyclopedia say?" "I dunno, something freaky." Johnny smiled back, his eyes lighting up at the idea that this girl would be around for a while…he'd have someone to talk to.

As Johnny was thinking this Soda appeared at his side, startling him and making him jump. Elli spun around from her position of staring at the mirror of the bathroom cabinet. "Soda? What are you doing?"

"Looking for y'all. You went off…"

"Uh…oh yeah…um, I just went to go check out the damage," she brushed her face with her hand and winced as pain shot through her throbbing face.

"Yeah…um…you want an icepack or something? It looks pretty bad" Soda said, his eyes full of worry.

"Nah, I'm ok, just sle-ee-eepy" she said, yawning. Soda walked over to her and took her hand, and started to go on about how the guys would be at the house for the remainder of the night and she'd never get any sleep on the couch as he lead her through the house to another room. He pushed open a half-closed door, throwing the room into a dim light coming from the hall. The room was small, containing a double bed, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers and clothes strewn across the floor.

"Sleep in here, you'll be more comfortable" he said gently and almost motherly.

"You sound like a worried old nanna," teased Elli sleepily.

"Well maybe I am, ever think of that?" Soda replied, his eyes beginning to dance with laughter once again, "Just humour me and sleep here so I don't feel mean for makin' y'all sleep on a couch with the gang keepin' yah up, k?"

Too tired to argue, Elli let herself be lead to the bed and tucked in like a small child. Within moments she was asleep, her hair falling across her face and casting shadows over her cheeks.

* * *

Soda stared at the poor girl in his bed. _She's so beautiful…even with her face all cut up and bruised, _he thought in awe. _Wait…what am I doing? Oh no, no, no, no, no, no! I can't like her…gah! Feelings should be illegal! _Soda shook his head as if to get the troubling thoughts away from his mind and walked back to the living room to sit with the gang. 

"Where's Elli?" asked Pony.

"Sleeping" Soda said with a bemused smile on his face. _What the hell?_ Thought Pony, _What's with the freaky smile?_ Soda continued smiling, staring at the TV, watching early morning programming with Two-bit and slowly fell asleep, only to dream of the sweet young girl he'd saved from her father.

* * *

That's chapter 2 of Wild Rose. I don't know when the next chaps will be up. When I get a chance I spose… It may be a while, it may not, depending on when I gotta go to hospital to have my son, and how long I'm there for… So if I'm gone for a while, quit your complaining and try shoving a baby out of your body and writing a fanfic/autobiography (this is seriously my life replacing my friends/family/boyfriend with Outsiders characters). 


	3. Chapter 3

DK here. On with the show, this is a short, but somewhat amusing chap (to me at least.

Disclaimer: Same as usual.

* * *

Soda awoke sweating and breathing heavily. "What the he-" he started before he saw Two-bits body in convulsions of silent laughter and felt the spasms of pleasure shooting through his body from his groin, then remembering his dream, everything fell into place. _FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! I am ROYALLY SCREWED! _Soda thought frantically and ran off to the bathroom, leaving Two-bit there, laughing his head off.

Soda was just outside the bathroom, when it occurred to him he needed clean boxers and pants, and he crept across the hall and into his room, where the goddess still slept. He tiptoed past the bed, and to the chest of drawers, yanking out clean pants and boxers and began to walk slowly and quietly across the room again when Elli yawned and sat up, her hair squashed up on one side of her head where she had been sleeping. _She looks so beautiful, _he thought, and remembering his dream, stifled a moan as he looked at her lips and dreamed of them being around his dick. "Whatta you doing Soda?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Oh, just getting clothes…I'm gonna go have a shower" he smiled sheepishly at her.

"Oh ok. Well, morning"

"You too" and with that he almost ran out of the room and into the bathroom across the hall. _Dude, what is WRONG WITH YOU! You've known her since WHEN? Like LAST NIGHT! _He mentally berated himself, _You can't like her…knowing you you'll spill your guts to her as soon as you see her, then she'll get freaked and leave. _This last thought terrified him and he hurriedly stripped himself of his somewhat soiled clothing and jumped under a cold shower.

He shivered as the icy jet ran down his back, making goose bumps rise along his body, as another horrible thought rushed into his head. _Two-bit. He knows…I must have like been moaning what I was in the dream in real life…Oh I am so screwed! Two-bit will tell what I was dreaming about, then not only will she freak that I like her, but she'll think I'm dirty too…fuuuuuuuuuuuuck! _These thoughts plagued him for the entire length of his shower until Darry started banging on the door. "SODA! I NEED TO SHAVE, YOU'VE BEEN IN THERE HALF A BLOODY HOUR, YOU'RE CLEAN ENOUGH!" his voice boomed through the door.

"I'll be right out!" Soda shouted and quickly jumped out of the shower, drying and dressing himself hurriedly. He opened the door to find Darry scowling curiously at him.

"What the hell were you doing in there?" he asked. Soda opened his mouth, with no idea what he was going to say, when Darry brushed him aside saying gruffly "Never mind, just get outta the way, I'll be late for work."

Soda walked into the kitchen, trying to look cool, calm and collected. Steve and Two-bit burst into a fit of giggles as they saw him. _So, he's told Steve…who's next? _He thought, a feeling of dread washing over his body. Elli looked up at him from the kitchen table, where she Pony and Johnny were eating cereal, and Pony was staring in awe at Elli as she spoke of some book. She kind of snorted with laughter and giggled, as Soda thought, _Fuck they already told her! _Then she took a deep breath and tried to say "Nice hair" but it came out as more "Ni-hahahahahahaha-s-hehe-h-hair!" Pony and Johnny looked at him then, and both giggled. Soda's hand flew up to his hair and realised with horror that he'd been so caught up in his thoughts that his hair was flattened across his forehead and the rest hung limply around his shoulders. _I must look like one of them hippy girls, _he thought, picturing himself in purple glasses with a bandanna and flowers in his hair, shuddering.

He quickly ran out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, drying his hair properly and greasing it up properly. _I'm screwed… _Soda thought_, I'll never convince her I don't like her, and if I do, she'll think I'm a freak_. _Would it be so bad to have her know you like her? Maybe she likes you too_. The "other" head voice spoke out. _Shut up…she'd never like me…ever.

* * *

_

Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery short chap, but eh. I haven't had much time. My son is due to be born in about 2 days. PLEASE REVIEW. I WILL DISCONTINUE IF I DON'T GET REVIEWS!


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, back from giving birth. My son, Jeffrey Sodapop was born on October 10th so he's now just under 4 months old ) anyways. Back to the story…

* * *

Soda waved goodbye to Pony and Elli as they walked past the DX, leaving him there with Steve. Steve looked on as he waited for them to turn the corner and walk on towards the school before returning to his work. "Damn Sodapop (AN: for you layna.xo), you ever gonna kiss her, or just keep dreamin' of it?" Steve teased him.

"Shut up", Soda shot back, "I got plenty of time to make my move."

"Dude, she's been livin' with y'all for what? 3 months now! Damn boy, make your move or I will."

Soda glared at Steve and buried his head under the hood of some rust bucket car. _You know, you should make a move on her before some dumb ass guy at the school does… _he thought to himself. "But she don't even like me…" Soda muttered under his breath.

"HA! So you think. You two just time your googly eyes perfectly so you never catch eachother!" Two bit's voice sounded from behind him. Soda jumped and hit his head on the hood of the car "Damnit Two bit! What are y'all trying ta do? Gimme a heart attack?"

"Nah, just brain damage" grinned Two-bit as a lump swelled on Sodas head.

* * *

Elli walked through the doors of the Curtis house behind Pony and threw down her bag next to the couch before collapsing next to Soda. "Ugh, Sodapop, why is school so annoying?" she groaned with big puppy eyes staring at his face.

"Haha, I dunno Elle, I'm a drop out. Remember?"

"BAH! You're incredibly misguided you know? You reckon you're a dumbass but you're not" Elli said, giving him one of her rare, but gorgeous smiles.

"Heh, somehow I doubt that…" Soda smiled grimly. _She's so beautiful when she smiles…Oh God what the hell am I doing? _Soda thought to himself as he leaned over the couch and gently brushed his lips over Elli's face.

* * *

Elli's eyes widened in shock as she felt Soda's lips on her cheek, slowly she turned her head towards him and found his eyes just as wide with shock as her own, but also somewhat hopeful.

"I-I'm sorry, I dunno why I just did that, I'm such an idiot. As if you would ever like ME" Soda rambled while getting up and walking out the front door.

Elli got up and rushed after him, grabbing onto his shoulder as he barrelled down the front steps. "WAIT SODA!" she yelled at him and pulled him around. "What the hell are you doing, running off before I get to kiss back?" she grinned and gently kissed Sodas soft pink lips. Soda smiled into the kiss and licked her lips softly, asking for entry to her mouth, which she willingly gave as he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up, deepening the kiss.

"Finally…" came a sigh of relief followed by a giggle and Soda and Elli turned around to see Pony, Johnny, Steve, Two-bit and Dally standing there. Dally was leaning against the door frame and looked disinterested, and Two-bit was doing a ridiculous dance, gyrating his hips and singing "Bow chika, bow cha-bow" as Pony and Johnny watched him giggling like schoolgirls.

"TWO-BIT!" shouted Soda and chased him through the house and Elli was left standing in front of Pony, Johnny, Dally and Steve.

"So…yah like stuff?" she said grinning stupidly, trying to hide her embarrassment.

* * *

There it is. Chapter 4. I'm sorry this took so god damn long, but I've been busy… 


End file.
